Articles

The European Commission suggests even deeper cuts in emissions

The Economist
May 27, 2010

ONE of the least convincing things about the European Union’s energy and climate policy is the brazen catchiness of its slogan: 20-20-20. This refers to a 20% reduction in carbon-dioxide emissions and 20% share for renewable energy sources by 2020. The idea that rigorous analysis of the right policies happened to echo the target date seems, at best, trivially condescending. At least this week’s suggestion by the European Commission that the EU should consider unilaterally moving to a 30% cut in CO2 has the merit of showing that something other than public relations and numerology is at work.
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